How It Began
by Tough Phantom Critic
Summary: The most accurate story of how Danny got his ghost powers that you will ever find on the web. Based on the theme song and the "Memory Blank" episode. Rated for mild violence.


Danny woke up that morning feeling tired. He got ready for school, slipping on his favorite t-shirt and jeans, and headed downstairs into the kitchen. When he couldn't find anyone, he went down another flight of stairs into the lab.

"Danny!" Jack Fenton exclaimed. "Your just in time to see the Fenton Ghost Portal! It allows you to access the Ghost Zone."

"It's not going to work," Jasmine said, matter-of-factly. "It's scientifically impossible. There are no such things as ghosts!"

"Sweetie, I know the idea of a Ghost Zone seems strange," Maddie Fenton said from inside the portal. "But, your father and I have been doing this for a long time."

"Don't touch that, Jack."

"Aw," Jack whined to his wife. "You never let me do the fun stuff."

"Come home directly from school this afternoon, Danny," Maddie told her son. "The portal will be ready, then."

"Uh, right. Okay," Danny said. "I have to get to school now. Jazz, are you coming?"

Jazz sighed. "Yeah, I'm coming little brother."

Later that day, Danny arrived at Fentonworks to see his parents putting the final touches on the portal.

"Look at it, Jack!" Maddie exclaimed. "It's finally going to work."

"No, it won't!" said Jazz exasperated. "It's impossible!"

"That's nice, dear," Maddie said, ignoring her daughter. "Fire it up, Jack!"

Jack took two electrical cords and waited for Maddie to stand by his side.

"Three, two, one…" Jack counted. He plugged the cords together and waited in anticipation. There was a rumble and a spark, but nothing happened.

"It…didn't work," Jack sighed.

"We were so close…" Maddie said quietly.

The couple walked slowly up the stairs, defeated and no longer wanting to be in their lab.

"C'mon, Jack," Maddie said. "I'll make you some fudge."

"I knew it wouldn't work," Jazz said to Danny, after their parents were upstairs.

"Jazz!"

The next day at school Danny told his friends about the portal.

"I think it's cool," Sam said with a smile. "How many kids can say they have ghost hunters for parents, and a ghost portal?"

"I'm with Sam on this one, dude," Tucker said. Tuck always loved technology.

"We should go check it out," Sam said.

"I don't know," Danny said cautiously. "My parents don't usually let people in the lab."

"We come over, we look at the portal for a second," Tucker began. "Your parents will never know."

Later that day, the three teens went to Fentonworks and made their way to the lab.

Sam positioned Danny for the picture and gave him a white and black HAZMAT safety suit to pose with.

"Smile!"

Danny frowned, anxious to leave the lab.

"Okay, I showed you the portal. Can we get outa here now?" Danny said nervously. "My parents could be back any minute. Besides, they say it doesn't work anyway."

"C'mon Danny, a Ghost Zone? Aren't you curious?" Sam asked. "You gotta check it out!"

Danny looked longingly at the portal, thinking.

"You know what? You're right!" Danny replied. "Who knows what kind of awesome, super cool things exist on the other side of that portal?"

Danny pulled on the HAZMAT suit he was holding over his clothes and zipped it up.

"Hang on," Sam said, pointing to the picture of Jack Fenton's head as a logo on the suit. "You can't go walking around with that on your chest."

Then, Danny cautiously entered the Ghost Portal. He absent-mindedly put his hand to the wall, pressing a green button labeled 'on.' In an instant, a flash of light streamed from the portal, as did Danny's screams.

"AH!" Danny's agonizing screams came from inside the portal.

"DANNY!" Sam and Tucker yelled together towards the blinding light.

The ectoplasm- infused electricity surged throughout his entire body. He felt it change every molecule, painfully, as if he had been struck by lightning. Soon the flash dimmed, and he stumbled out of the portal that was now glowing with green swirls of light. He gasped, holding his head and fell forward. Sam tried to catch him in her arms, but he phased through her fingertips.

"Danny, you're… you're a ghost!" Sam cried, but Danny couldn't hear her. He was out cold.

Danny woke up in his room and looked up at Sam and Tucker. Both had strange expressions on their faces.

"Guys? What happened?" Danny said, rubbing his head. He sat up and looked down at his feet. "I feel like I got hit by a bus. Wha… what am I wearing? I look like my dad dressed me."

"Danny…" Sam called softly.

Danny looked at his gloved hands, then his chest. He got up and looked in his mirror. His hair was white and his eyes were an eerie glowing green.

"Ah!" Danny yelled.

"Ah!" Sam and Tucker yelled, in surprise.

"Why are you yelling?" Danny yelled. "I'm the one with white hair, and green eyes… that glow!"

"What are we gonna do?" Tucker asked.

"I don't know!" Danny said.

"Don't panic," Sam said.

"Sam," Danny said quietly. "I'm panicking!"

Danny started phasing through the floor. His friends came to his aid and pulled him up, as he turned tangible again.

"Ow! My foot is stuck in the floor!" Danny cried. He let out a sigh of relief as he managed to pull his ankle out of the hardwood.

"Danny!" Maddie called from the hall. "Are you okay, sweetie?"

"Oh no! Mom!" Danny said, turning invisible. Maddie walked in the door.

"Is everything alright? I thought I heard Danny" Maddie asked.

"Uh, nope! No Danny here Mrs. Fenton," Sam said.

"He's probably downstairs," Tucker lied.

When Maddie walked out of the room, Danny's friends turned to look for him.

"Danny?" Sam asked.

"How am I doing this?" Danny said, still invisible. He turned visible.

"Wow. That's a relief!" Danny sighed.

"Uh, Danny," Sam said, pointing at his feet.

"Woaaaahh!" Danny said, floating. He flipped upside down. Sam and Tucker pulled Danny to the ground.

"How do we fix this?" Danny asked.

Just then, Danny changed into his human form.

"I'm normal?" Danny asked, confused. "I'm NORMAL!"

He changed back to a ghost.

"And now you're not," Tucker said.

"Especially when you keep screaming like that!" Jazz said from down the hall.

"Can she hear us?" Sam asked cautiously.

"We should probably go to my house," Tucker replied.

"Good idea," Danny agreed nervously. "A ghost in a house of ghost hunters is not a good idea."

They had finally gotten to Tucker's house, Danny floating half the way there. Sam and Tucker had painstakingly and quickly told Danny's parents and sister that they were going to Tucker's. They had trouble keeping Danny on the floor.

"I can't…stay…on…the…ground!" Danny exclaimed in frustration when they got to Tucker's.

"Danny," Sam said. "Try changing back."

"Changing back?" Danny asked.

"You did it before, man," Tucker said. "Became human again."

"Try," Sam said.

"How?" Danny asked.

"I don't know!" Sam said.

Danny shut his eyes tight and concentrated. He stopped floating and sat on the floor. Two white rings formed around him and he turned back into a human. He opened one eye nervously.

"You did it!" Tucker said.

To Danny, the room was spinning.

"Yeah, I think I got it," Danny said, leaning back on his hand. The arm went intangible and he fell partially through the floor.

"Oof!" Danny exclaimed, surprised. "Darn it!"

Danny walked home, finally able to stay in human form after a bit of practice at Tucker's, though occasionally he would slip up and start floating a few feet. On one such occasion, he had nearly scared a little girl to death. When he finally arrived at home, his parents were waiting for him.

"Hey, sweetie," Maddie said when Danny walked through the door. "What did you do at Tucker's?"

"Nothing," Danny said, panicking. "Especially not anything ghost related."

Maddie gave Danny a quizzical look.

"You're hiding something!" Jack said in accusation.

"No, I'm not!" Danny yelled across the room in fear.

"You brought me fudge didn't you?" Jack said smiling.

"I'm not a… uh… yes! It's… it's upstairs!" Danny said, running to his room to hide.

Danny closed the door of his room behind him. He sat on his bed to catch his breath.

He couldn't tell his parents what happened. They were ghost hunters! Danny remembered that he had school the next day. What if he went ghost?

At school the next day, Danny met up with Tucker and Sam at the lunch table. They were both very concerned about Danny. Danny himself was a bit jumpy.

"Danny," Mr. Lancer said from behind.

"Ah!" Danny cried, startled. He promptly and disgracefully fell out of his seat. Several people saw and laughed.

Danny dusted himself off and stood up to greet his teacher. Naturally, Danny was rather embarrassed.

"Danny, it seems you've been rather… on edge lately," Mr. Lancer said.

"I'm fine," Danny said, nervously.

"Are you sure?" Mr. Lancer persisted. "You can tell me if something is wrong." At that point, Sam jumped to Danny's aid.

"He's great. In fact, we were going to go discuss how great somewhere else, right Tucker?" Sam said.

"Uh, right!" Tucker said.

The three teens escaped into the hall. Sam was dragging Danny by his arm.

"Thanks, Sam," Danny said graciously. "That was a close one!"

"Man, you need to chill out," Tucker exclaimed.

"I know!" Danny defended. "But that's kind of hard when I keep falling through the floor!"

"Danny," Sam started. "First, your hand is invisible." Danny managed to turn the single limb visible again.

"Second, are you going to tell your parents what happened?"

"I…"

Danny had been interrupted by a crash that came from down the hall. The trio rushed towards the noise. They came up to a startling scene.

"I am the BOX GHOST!" screamed the Box Ghost. "Collector of all things cubical! Beware!"

Sam, Danny and Tucker trembled with fear before the ghost.

"Do something!" Sam yelled at Danny.

"Like what?" Danny yelled back angrily.

"You're part ghost! Just… talk to it, or something!" Sam replied anxiously.

"Okay, I'm gonna uh… go ghost and you guys… stay here?" Danny said, terrified.

"No problems with the 'stay here' part!" Tucker replied nervously.

Danny looked around to make sure no unwanted eyes were around, and he went ghost. He slowly floated up to the Box Ghost.

"But you are a human! You can not be a ghost!" The Box Ghost yelled in confusion.

"I'm half and half," Danny replied, timidly. "Any chance of you getting out of here?"

"I will not leave until I have… borrowed… all the square containers from this torture facility!"

"It's a school, but close enough," Danny said.

"Danny!" Sam said from below. "Get that thing out of here!"

The bell had just rung and people were starting to flood the halls.

"You're gonna have to get outa here or I'll… I'll just have to make you!" Danny said with more confidence. The Box Ghost looked genuinely frightened. He looked around.

"Beware!" He screamed finally as he left the building through the roof.

"Guys!" Danny yelled as he floated to the ground. "Hide me!"

Sam and Tucker stood in front of him and Danny changed back into human form.

"Well, he was pretty pathetic," Tucker said.

"Yeah, I know. A box ghost?" Danny replied. "How lame can you get?"

"At least he's original!" Sam said, laughing.

"Well, I don't think he'll be coming around here for a while," Danny said proudly.

"Maybe not, but I think you've got other problems, man," Tucker pointed out.

Dash was walking right towards Danny holding a bombed algebra test in his left hand and a fist for his right.

"Hey, Fenturd!" Dash teased. "Afraid of teachers now?"

Danny knew what was coming, so he ran in the other direction. He ran down the hall and down a stairwell. The halls were thinning as kids were going to class and teachers were writing on chalkboards. Not only was Danny going to get beat up, he was also going to be late!

"You're dead, Fenton!" Dash said, running after Danny. Danny wasn't as athletic as Dash and he was running out of energy.

Sam and Tucker had taken several short cuts and found Danny running towards them. The pulled him into a janitor's closet when he turned a corner.

"I'm so tired of Dash!" Danny told them, looking at the door. "It's about time I did something about it!"

"Danny! No!" Sam and Tucker called, but Danny was already out the door.

Danny directly and purposely ran into Dash.

"Oops! I am such a klutz!" Danny said smiling.

"You little…" Dash stuffed Danny into a locker.

Danny smiled. This is what he had hoped for. He phased through the door and slammed Dash in the locker so fast that Dash didn't see a thing. He had no idea what hit him. Sam and Tucker had caught up with Danny.

"Woohoo!" Tucker shouted at the sight of Dash in a locker.

"Maybe these powers aren't so bad!" Danny said happily.

"Dash may be tough, but you scared the cardboard of that Box Ghost!" Sam added. "Maybe your powers are for more than just walking through walls."

"Sam's right," said Tucker. "They are way cool! You could be a total rock star!"

"Or a hero," Danny added with a gleam in his eyes.

Danny looked down at his hands.

"Well, right now," Sam said. "I know one superhero and couple of sidekicks who are late for class!"

They ran down the hall and happily skidded into their English class, as the most joyful tardy children a confused Mr. Lancer had ever seen.

"Uh, hello?" Dash called down the hall. "It's dark in here!"

_He's gonna catch 'em all, 'cause he's Danny Phantom…_


End file.
